Virtually Real
by Jamethiel1
Summary: Kagome has been a part of an RPG called Sengoku Jidai for a while now.. what happens when she receives an e-mail from one of the characters, asking if she'd like to meet them in real life?
1. Welcome to Sengoku Jidai

{ I get these ideas for fics, and they refused to leave until I start typing them ^^;  I admit that this is probably one of my most planned-in-advanced fanfics, but that doesn't mean the updates will be any sooner.  In fact, don't read this fic if you're looking for a fast update: it may or may not come.  I've got another fic as my first priority, and I'd rather not pause in fear of losing it completely.  Anyway, I'd really like some reviews on this, and to know whether or not I should bother continuing.

A few important notes – The characters are older than in the anime, and I think I'm going to use most of the manga eye colors.  By reading this chapter, it will become obvious that Kagome's family is not the same as on the anime by any stretch of the imagination.  This will be explained later.  Um.. I'm probably missing something important, but I can't think of it right now.

This will be short, later chapters will be longer if you think I should continue this.  This is only an introduction! }

**Virtually Real**

**chapter one – Welcome to Sengoku Jidai**

**By Jamethiel1**

_Which of these shapes do you find most appealing?_

Kagome glanced down at the page, tapping her pencil lightly against the paper as she thought it over.  So, was it the purple and pink swirled one?  No.  The yellow and orange one that was hard to even look at?  Definitely not.  She looked at the each once, then marked down one that varied in hues from yellow to red to green, all different shapes that seemed to go well together despite their irregularity.  Hey, it was more appealing than the others.  

_I don't see how they can tell what type of person I am by these stupid questions.._ she thought critically, moving on to the next one.  She had been working on this personality test for the last few hours, responding to statements like "I have a talent for making people feel loved."  How the heck was she supposed to know?  It wasn't as if she went around asking people if she made them feel loved.  She'd rather not have people thinking she was crazy, thank you very much.

Darkening in the circle for "moderate", Kagome closed the booklet with a sigh.  Well, she had finished it.  This had mainly been a means of killing time, but now she wasn't sure if she actually wanted to turn in the test or not.  It was apart of a contest for a part in some role-playing game.  She wasn't even really sure what it was about but, with the millions she knew would be entering, she doubted it'd matter if she sent in a form as well.  

Along with the hours-long personality test, she had to send in a form with her name, age, sex, height, weight, hobbies, grades: an endless list of personal questions of which she usually wouldn't give the answers to some unknown company.  They even needed a current picture, and she had to respond to multiple writing prompts.  One will go to great lengths to cure boredom.

Now she was completely finished.  A large envelope was lying beside her, ready to have the contents of the entry shoved inside and mailed, only to be lost in a sea of other submissions.  Yet she was just foolish enough to waste the stamps and shipping costs, so she sealed her personal information within the package, and exited her room quietly.

Hearing the thunderous snores coming from downstairs, she thought it safe to assume her uncle was asleep.  That was good; maybe she could leave without having to confront him.  Walking as lightly as humanly possible, Kagome edged her was through the house, opening the front door and shutting it behind her with as little noise as possible.  She waited a moment to make sure she hadn't woken him, then sighed relief.  Time to mail in her entry, so she could say she'd at least tried.  No harm in that!

**-~-~-~-**

Kagome opened the large bundle with slightly numb fingers, the "Congratulations, Kagome Higurashi" scrawled on the front part of that stunned reaction.  She had almost forgotten the contest she had entered, and finding this in the mail had come as quite a shock.  She had never won anything before, at least not something like this.  She could already hear everyone at school complaining that she had won, when she hadn't even been that interested in it to begin with.  The role-playing game had been a major topic of conversation for months before the contest, and hadn't died down until a couple weeks ago.  This was likely to get it started all over again.  

Pulling out the first thing that met her fingers within in the parcel, she withdrew a letter, and opened it.  Kagome was surprised to find that it was handwritten, not printed as she had expected.  

_"Congratulations Ms. Higurashi, _

_You have been chosen to play the role of Kagome Higurashi in the newest and most elaborate role-playing game to ever be released: Sengoku Jidai."_

Slate gray eyes opened considerably at the introduction to the letter.  _I've been chosen to play.. myself?_  They had made an RP character out of her?  She shook her head in confusion, returning her attention to the letter.  Hopefully it would explain better than that.

_"You have been chosen out of millions of entries due to your unique personality and extraordinary writing skills."_

Kagome snorted.  Yeah right.

_"Enclosed with this letter is a manual to the RPG Sengoku Jidai, along with a detailed profile of your character.  Read both carefully and get familiar with your character's history and involvement in the role-play.  You will be sent instructions to enter the online RPG Sengoku Jidai in one week.  Have fun."_

Kagome blinked at the letter as if it would make more sense the longer she stared at it.  Unfortunately, the words remained the same and she put the paper aside, reaching into the large package to pull out a heavy booklet of some kind.  A Complete Guide to Everything You Need to Know about Sengoku Jidai, the title read, and Kagome groaned.  Great, just what she needed: more homework.

**-~-~-~-**

It only took about five hours of downloads, but Kagome was finally able to get her first look at Sengoku Jidai.  After reading all about the site and her character, Kagome was more than ready to begin.  

_"Enter your ID Code,"_ prompted the screen, and Kagome quickly flipped through the manual until she found it.  KH18-M010-ISJ7.  Not exactly the easiest thing in the world to remember, but at least no one was likely to guess it.  

_"Enter your password,"_ it now read.  She quickly punched in the correct information, having memorized it previously: mikoreincarnate.  Kagome smiled slightly as she typed; despite her previous misgivings, she had a feeling this _was going to be fun.  She had mainly only gotten information on her own character, but there was a few references to others, especially her family, along with a few mentionings of Inuyasha and Kikyou.  The manual had said new packages of updates and information would come in as the role-play progressed, but basically she would be as in the dark as her virtual self.  That was fine by her; it would make it all the more enjoyable.  _

Watching the screen intently, Kagome laughed quietly as an illustration of her character popped up.  It looked exactly like her, from the hair to the eyes and body.  She was even wearing Kagome's school uniform!  She wasn't sure she had ever given the details of the uniform, but figured she must have seeing as how it now appeared on the screen.  

Words scrolled along the bottom of the screen before she entered the RPG:

_"Welcome to Sengoku Jidai"_

**end of chapter one**

{ As I said before, this is only an introduction.  Please point out errors, vague areas, ask questions, whatever!  Just please review! ^^  And let me know if this sounds interesting enough to continue, or if I should just work on my other fics.  I'm a little over halfway done with the sixth chapter for "Remembering the Forgotten", so I'll hopefully have that up soon! }


	2. Reality is Overrated

{ Oh!  Thank you for all the reviews =D  I love reading reviews: it's my favorite thing in the world -^^-  I'm sorry to say this fic isn't on my top priority list by any stretch of the imagination, but I hope to get updates up a little faster than this one had been.

Questions: 

_"What does Sengoku Jidai mean anyway!"_

Oops, sorry for not making this clear earlier.  Sengoku Jidai is the "Warring States" era: the time period in which Inuyasha (manga/anime) takes place.  Thanks for your review!

_"It's sorta like dot.Hack//sign!!"_

Okay, this isn't a question, but I felt I had to comment anyway.  You're absolutely right, and I didn't realize this until after you pointed it out xx;  -sigh-  Now half my story's ruined, because it only gets more like it and I _don't _want that.  I'll just have to come up with something else ^^;;  Thanks for reviewing! }****

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**Virtually Real**

**chapter**** two – Reality is Overrated **

**By Jamethiel1**

Kagome sat down to her computer, clicking the power on and waiting for it to start.  It wasn't the greatest machine in the world so she had a while to do just that.  The sun was just now rising and Kagome had only had time to come home from work and take a quick shower before she was back in front of the screen.  

She glanced around her one-roomed apartment as she waited for the computer to load, sighing at its sorry shape.  But it had a bed, microwave, and computer: the essentials to her new life.  Actually, she could pretty much cut out the bed.  She rarely slept anymore, but that was okay; it was worth it.  

It had been almost a year since she entered the contest, and in that time she had come to be addicted to this role-playing game.  It beat reality.  The story had enthralled her from the beginning, but life had dragged her away from the game for days at a time.  She had school, after all, household chores and other such tasks.  

Whenever she returned to Sengoku Jidai, _he would be there waiting.  Inuyasha was always on, so much so that Kagome found herself wondering if he even slept at all.  "Doesn't this guy have a life?" she asked herself on more than one occasion.  Soon, however, she had found herself skipping classes, canceling dates with her friends, and shirking her responsibilities to spend more time online.  She barely even registered the change, except that she felt more complete living her alternate self's life.  It didn't seem to matter that it wasn't real._

Her character had an actual family, for one.  Kagome's own mother was dead; her father might as well be for as much as she knew about his whereabouts.  She did have a brother, but he was older than herself and away at college.  He didn't even bother to write.  That had left her with an uncle who was unpleasantly drunk most of the time, and only got worse when he was sober.  She had been all too happy to escape into this virtual world.

Then, thankfully, Kagome had turned eighteen two weeks ago, so had packed up and left that particular living arrangement.  She had finished school a short time before that, so there wasn't much else to keep her away from her favorite RPG.  

By this time Shippou, Miroku, and Sango had joined the gang as well.  Though Kagome didn't know their life stories, the three were online as often as she and Inuyasha were.  Kagome found herself forming a tighter bond with the four of them than she had with anyone in her own life.  

Shippou was the sweetest and cutest being in the world.

Miroku was a pervert, but a good and dependable friend. 

Sango was like the sister she had never had.

And Inuyasha.. she had fallen for him just as hard as her character had.

She knew how pathetic it was, but she felt she knew him, she felt that they really had gone through so many hardships together.  But there were a couple problems with this realization:  One – she had no idea what this guy might really be like.  And two – there was absolutely no out of character conversations to be held in Sengoku Jidai.  

In regards to the first, she felt that he _must_ be like his character.  If she was picked and assigned her own so carefully, surely Inuyasha was the same.  Surely she was seeing his true face, minus perhaps the ears. 

As to the second, at first this had been a good thing; it kept everyone to the story and made it all the more real.  Now, though.. there was no way to contact Inuyasha.  Their meetings were restricted to the role-playing sessions they held.  She told herself it didn't matter, that there was no chance the guy playing Inuyasha would have any feelings for her anyway.  Only she was foolish enough to fall in love with a made-up character from an online game.

So she was restricted to swooning over the image she held of the person behind the hanyou, knowing nothing could come of it.  Reduced to true tears whenever Kikyou would make her appearance; sharing all of her character's worries, fears, and emotions.  Yep, she was pathetic.

Kagome snapped out of her musings as her computer flared to life.  "Finally," she breathed, and felt the familiar fluttering of butterflies, excited to be returning to Sengoku Jidai and her friends.  Before she could log on, however, something popped up on the screen to distract her.  _"2 New Messages."  Kagome automatically clicked the pop-up, and it brought her to her e-mail inbox.  __Let's see who's bothering me today.. she thought as she glanced at the first of the two._

_From: perfectoffers  Subject: FW: guaranteed cash prize!  _

She didn't even bother opening the junk mail; she just deleted it and moved on to the next.  

_From: Naraku  Subject: Sengoku Jidai_

For a moment Kagome's heart raced, before she shook her head and laughed at herself.  Naraku was just a normal person who happened to play villainous character in the RPG.  It wasn't as if he could control who the company had sent him; he had to follow his character's part in the role-play, just as she did.  Then why did she have a bad feeling about this?  If her character matched her and her personality so well, didn't everyone's?  Swallowing hard, Kagome tried to tell herself she was making a big deal out of a little thing, as she clicked open the mail.

_From: Naraku_

_To: Kagome Higurashi_

_Subject: Sengoku Jidai_

_You want to meet him?_

_I know how you can._

Kagome stared dumbly at the screen, unknowing of what to make of it.  Two simple lines, and yet they seemed to hold all her hopes and desires in them.  She had little doubt who the 'him' Naraku referred to was.  It had to be Inuyasha.  Kagome was vaguely aware of the fact this person couldn't know she wanted to meet him, but that part was locked away by the rest, the larger part that was screaming, "Yes!"  Yes, she did want to meet him, and Naraku, if he was to be believed, knew a way for it to happen.  Not thinking of the consequences, no longer doubting Naraku's character, she hit the reply button and typed in a single word:

_How?_

Sending the e-mail, Kagome forced herself to breath.  _Don't get your hopes up,_ she warned herself, _this could all be a stupid joke.._  "I know that," she spoke aloud, defending herself.  She knew better than to fall for random messages like this.  When she had first started the role-play, there had been countless e-mails from people claiming to be management for Sengoku Jidai, asking for her password.  She wasn't stupid enough to fall for those, so why did she suddenly get so excited over this? 

"You're losing it, Kagome," she informed herself, then laughed.  _Now I'm even talking to myself,_ she thought mockingly, but not without humor, _I really need to get a life.  Then she remembered her mission for awaiting her intolerably slow computer's startup, and smiled.  She had a life; though it might not be considered by many to be appropriate, she loved it more than anything.  _Even if I don't get a reply, _she mused as she thought back on the e-mail, "I'll survive."  And yet, despite her talk, her hand shook slightly as she spotted something pop up in the corner of the computer screen._

_"1 New Message"_

**end**** of chapter two**

{ Evil place to end it?  Perhaps.  But I wanted to get _something up, even if it was as short and horrible as this.  I lied last chapter, this is also pretty much an introduction :\  Maybe we'll actually get to the plot next time!  Please review ^^ }_


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